Considering Fate
by Colette D
Summary: [Ch 3] A mysterious vampire leader is out to get Tommy, and who knows what he wants? Merton is getting sicker, only to find out that his problem is bigger than imagined! How can he keep this secret from Tommy and still help him?
1. Lycanthropes Vs Vampires

~Author's Note~ This story is, of course, BWoC, but it has a few notes of Underworld tied into it, but no Underworld specific characters...Got it? And there are some subtle hints of T/M slash. Go on...  
  
~Disclaimer~ I don't own the very special BWoC, and I don't own Underworld either, but I wrote this story...So yeah. R & R!  
  
_____________________________  
  
The skies over Pleasantville were grey and sure to rain that day...Yet normal life had went on...Elders and kids alike went on without complaining. Yet there were three who had a bit of trouble on their hands.  
  
"So that means if the vampires came into the town, they'd attack everyone...and eventually come for us too, right?" Lori questioned. Merton picked up the crumpled up note that had been thrown through the window not too long ago.  
  
"That's basically what it's stating..." Merton read it again.  
  
"If they look just like normal people, we'll never be able to sipher the vampires from the people....we'll be gone before we can even make a guess!" Tommy blinked furiously. He had his little annoying habits for when he was nervous.  
  
"Well, they don't like garlic...maybe that gives us a clue...And wouldn't they be in some kind of retreat instead of the sun?" Lori asked.  
  
"Lori, that's the steryotypical vampire...Real vampires are not like that..." Merton shook his head.  
  
"Well sor-ry, I didn't know..." she said. "How'd we get caught up in this anyways...?"   
  
"Because Tommy's a werewolf and they know it..." Merton stated. He leaned back in his chair and looked up towards his ceiling, spinning slowly around in the chair.  
  
"So...What are we going to do?" Tommy said. "We can't sit around and do nothing...Vampires are out there, and they're out there to get us...er..Me!"  
  
Merton looked down from the ceiling and presently looked into Tommy's eyes. He stood up and ran out the door of the Lair, leaving Tommy and Lori to question. He came back with a large and heavy book, dropping it down onto his bed, sitting himself down as well. He opened it up and seemed to be looking intently for a specific page.  
  
"What's that book for?" Tommy asked. He sat down on the bed as well, next to Merton, looking as close as he could as Merton quickly flipped the pages. Merton stopped abruptly.  
  
"I got it!" he shouted. He pointed to what the page said. "The war of vampires and lycanthropes alike has been raging for the better part of the last three thousand years...  
  
Vampires have acquired themselves with the better weaponry, but the lycanthropes have raged with pure physical strength and a stray weapon or two..." He looked up to Tommy. "Do you know what this means?!" Tommy gave him a quizical look.   
  
"No...What..does it mean?" he stared at Merton.  
  
"It means that those blasted vampires are declaring war on us!" Merton looked up to Lori as well. "They wan't to destroy the whole of the population of werewolves! Tommy...They really are after you...."  
  
"But...I don't get it...How did they even know Tommy was a werewolf in the first place?"  
  
"That's what we need to find out..." Merton closed the book and shook his head. "D'you think they've been stalking you or something?"  
  
"But that still doesn't explain how they know you, yourself are a werewolf. I mean, they can't just pick a random kid to stalk, Merton." Lori said.  
  
"You're right..." Merton squinted his eyes and furrowed his brow in thought. It fell backwards onto his neatly-made bed and looked up at the ceiling again. "How do we find out..."   
  
"Maybe we should just sleep on it, give our minds a break...Besides, it's really late, and it's raining now..." Tommy listened intently to the pattering of rain on the ground.  
  
"Ok...Yeah...We'll get refreshed and get on it tomarrow...Be here at noon. We'll discuss plans tomarrow." Merton sat up again and smiled. "Don't worry, Tommy. We'll get it like we always do..." Tommy jumped off the bed and playfully punched Merton in the arm.  
  
"See you tomarrow, Merton." Tommy walked out the door, Lori waving goodbye.  
  
"Ciao!" Merton fell back again, darkness encasing his thoughts and heading towards a dream...  
  
_____________________________ 


	2. NRQ

The next day proved to be better than the last, minding that everything was damp and the air humid; though the parks were empty with utter silence, school was out for the ominous summer. Something was being plotted...Though the three hadn't even a clue.   
  
Merton stretched and looked around the dimly-lit room. He leafed through the old book once more, noticing some fine details and drawings. He came upon something piculiar, though. It was a drawing different from the others, it had a resnaissance-era feel to it. It was that of a familiar-looking werewolf and a vampire with a distinguishing look, engaging in battle. The werewolf looked almost as if it were...  
  
"Nah...It's just a coincidence...Tommy wasn't even alive back then!" Merton said to himself. He paid more attention, though, to the artist's name. The initials were NRQ. Merton put the book down and grabbed another from a shelf.   
  
"Is it Nordilain?" he leafed carefully through the new book and noticed a particular artist by the name of Nordilain Roweign Quinn. NRQ. His short biography was no different from your ordinary artist. He lived around the resaissance-era, and so was the style of his paintings. There was too much complication running around in Merton's brain now, though, to even have the slightest thought of how Nordilain could have been linked to this whole war.  
  
"Whatever..." Merton dropped the book abruptly and fell backwards on his bed, looking towards the ceiling. He suddenly struck a thought and jumped back off his bed and back to his book shelf. He quickly grabbed both the art book and grabbed one called, "Infamously Infamous Terribly Terrible Vampires From History" and quickly flew by the pages and stopped at a single page. His eyes suddenly widened and he dropped the book.   
  
'I've got to tell Tommy...' Merton grabbed his jacket and ran straight out the door. He didn't even bother to say anything to his mother, and paid no attention to his sister as she yelled some idiotic insult as he shut the door. He bouned down the driveway and into his hearse and drove as fast as the speed limit would allow.  
  
____________________  
  
As he was about to leave, as he had been told to meet up with Merton at 12, Tommy reached for the door handle, and before he even turned it, the door flew open. Merton was standing there, panting and shoving the two books into Tommy's hands.  
  
"Merton, what's wrong? J-just sit down or something..." Merton looked more pale than usual and closed his eyes for a moment before calming down.   
  
"Look at this," Merton shoved a torn page from the old book into Tommy's hands. Tommy set the two books down and took the page. It was the picture of the vampire and werewolf that Merton found. Tommy squinted and raised his brow.  
  
"It looks...like me!" Tommy had the same look that Merton had when he'd seen it, and sat down at the kitchen table to look at the books.  
  
"Now look at the artist name. NRQ. Now look at the art book, the page that's bookmarked," Tommy read the short biography of Nordilain. "Yeah, same guy."   
  
"And what does this Nordilain guy have to do with it?" Tommy asked. Merton opened up the other book and showed Tommy the portrait of the same Nordilain Roweign Quinn. Tommy was more curious now, and he hadn't even the need to ask Merton anything.  
  
"I recognized his picture when I was sorting out my bookshelf. I couldn't really believe it at first, but it really is the same guy! Same name, same everything! But it says that during around the Renaissance period, the war slowed down but still raged in his parts and he was documenting it with his paintings. When the early 1900's came about he started revealing his work and making himself one of the more known artists of the world, playing as a normal human being. But look! It has a few quotes of this guy: 'I dreamt of a young werewolf. He had not a sense of realism, but some kind of dreadful fear came about me in this dream. I knew that some day I should come across this young lycanthrope, and I should slay him if I did. God knows whoever he is, but he shall only pray for mercy.' Tommy! He's the head of the whole vampires! He's the one sending the notes! He knows about you!"   
  
Tommy looked to the floor and finally looked up after about two minutes. His eyes were full of rage and yet adventure. Merton could tell that Tommy was ready to take on whatever was coming for him. He knew then that Tommy could readily fight whatever was out there, and Merton would be there, wherever his friend would be. 


	3. Emails and Friendships

Merton woke up that morning, feeling rather gloomy. All the information had been packed into his brain, the vampires, Nordilain, Tommy, werewolves. When was it all going to end? When was all of this going to be figured out? It was quite clear that Nordilain was head of the vampires. His intentions, though, on finding Tommy, were a mystery. Tommy would have to tread lightly these days, and it was helped out a bit by how nothing wierd was going on in the not-so-pleasant-Pleasantville, and for the trio, that was very wierd.  
  
"Time to get up..." Merton shoved his body upwards and out of bed. He blinked furiously and stretched. The skies were grey and cold again. Merton shivered a bit and then looked around the lair. It was just a bit messy, papers strewn across his desk, his computer still on.  
  
"Hmm? It shouldn't be on...I'm sure I turned it off," he stepped lightly over to the desk and sat down in the cold, empty chair. A message box appeared claiming that he had mail. Merton clicked and it brought up another message box. This message box contained the mail, sent from 'Unkown'. "How's that possible?" Merton inquired. He read what was on the screen and his eyes widened. He printed it out quickly, grabbed his jacket, and ran out the door.  
  
-----------  
  
"Tommy!!" Merton pounded on the door. No one answered. He walked around the side of the house to Tommy's bedroom window and pounded on it. The glass was cold and felt like it would break under Merton's pressure.  
  
He suddenly heard shuffling about in the room, and watched Tommy peer through his curtains out at Merton. He opened the window.  
  
"What? Merton, it's like, 6 in the morning!" Tommy said. Merton shoved the paper into Tomm'y hands and he read it:  
  
_I know where you reside, young werewolf.  
You'll soon know my intentions.  
NRQ  
_  
Tommy blinked, half confused, half trying to wake up. Merton plopped down beside Tommy is exhaustion, and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"You ok?" Tommy looked over. Merton nodded and smiled.  
  
"Didn't get much sleep last night, I was thinking." Merton said. He smiled again and Tommy patted him on the back.  
  
"Well, you want something to eat..or..?" Tommy asked. Merton said yes and they ventured out into the kitchen for breakfast. Halfway through eating, a conversation sparked:  
  
"D'you ever think about if you weren't a werewolf?" Merton asked. Tommy looked up.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah! I mean, Pleasantville would be in chaos; utter chaos because there was no friendly neigbourhood werewolf to protect them from the mass of disturbing creatures that always seem to find themselves here in Pleasantville." Merton put in.  
  
"Well, I dunno. I can't really imagine, you know?" Tommy said.  
  
"Yeah I know..." Merton said, looking down into his glass of milk. "Because then we would have never became friends..." Tommy looked up from his plate and to Merton, he raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Why d'you say that?" he asked.  
  
"Come on, Tommy...It was because of my extensive knowledge for lycantrhopy that was the cause of our meeting and friendship. You're a jock, and I'm the creepy goth kid. Our steryotypical personalities usually don't mix and match." Merton laughed a bit. It was just a bit wierd that he and Tommy were friends. Everyone was always on Tommy's case about him and his friendship with that 'wierdo'.  
  
"Well, I'm just glad that we're friends now," Tommy smiled. Merton smiled back and then stood. He waved and turned to leave.  
  
"Where are you going?" Tommy jumped from his seat and caught up to Merton, though he hadn't even gone ten feet.  
  
"Research, Tommy. Extensive, late-night, gotta-use-caffiene-to-your-advantage research. Besides, we have school the day after tomorrow, so I've got to get some rest, I think I feel a cold commin' on." he smiled and Tommy smiled back. He lead him out the door and they said their goodbyes.  
-----------  
  
Merton did just what he set out to do. He stayed up late, researching whatever came to his mind about werewolves, mid-century painters, vampires, and mostly he soaked up anything he could find about Nordilain. He had his caffiene, and found himself nodding. He so desperately wanted to sleep, but he also so desperately wanted to know everything. Was it for Tommy's sake? He had no clue, but he did know that Tommy was in danger, real danger. A danger, he knew, that could cause a lot of trouble for them both. Maybe for the whole of Pleasantville, for all he knew. But he did know, also, that whatever they did, they needed to keep quiet about it, all of it, for Tommy's sake.  
  
It was crazy, all this was rushing in so fast. 


End file.
